A War of Two
She was tired, breathing heavy a top her Netherworld beast of a mount. Up to this point, she had lost count of how many enemies her great sword, Red Blood, had cut down. The young queen stood a top a little hill searching for her target. She located her prey and swooped in. "Go, Diamond Hoof! Ride!" She cried out as her mount barreled towards her target. She unsheathed her weapon and crushed through the poor unmounted men and/or women that stood in her path. The Queen prepared a mighty swing as she was closing in, but her prey prepared a counter with her own sword. The queen swung and steel met steel with such force that both combatants were disarmed. Her prey looked at her weapon that laid flat on the ground. The queen looked at her enemy bewildered and cried out, "Verante!!!!!" With that she rode towards the woman with near insanity, smacked her horse into Verante's and tackled her to the ground. Both of their helms knocked off their heads. Their armor providing no give in their collision. The young queen sat a top her enemy as she proceeded to punch Verante's face into a pulp. "You.... Will.... NOT BEST ME!" The commander from Veccavia roared and used her strength to shove the young queen off of her and do the same, punching with her bare fists. "You won't stop me from killing Boadice, Janiciet!" Verante started to choke her as her captive struggled to relive her throat from the grip. Janiciet reared her fist back and delivered a hard punch to the face of Verante. The blow sent her reeling off of the queen as she got up to meet her enemy. "Why? Why do you protect her like she was your long life friend? Why do you protect someone you barely KNOW!" Verante yelled at her, her hair in a mess as she stared down the queen. "I protect her from the injustice you will do to her." Janiciet solemnly responds back as an arrow flies towards her, barely missing her exposed head. "You cannot understand what I must do, what I have to do to survive... AND YOU WILL NOT STOP ME FROM SURVIVING!" Verante charges fist ready to swing. Janiciet catches it with her left and prepares a strike with her right, but is stopped by Verante's own left. "Janiciet, you will never best me." She grits her teeth as the stalemate continues. "I... Just... Have!" The queen cries out and headbutts Verante, knocking her down to the ground. Her prey is down, trying to recover from the amount of head trauma that was dealt. The queen rubs her own head as she hears the cries of her men and the mystical Noldor she leads. She looks down to her adversary and walks next to her fallen foe. She sits down on the grass next to Verante. "I cannot go back..." The Veccavian commander states. "Why?" The young queen asks. "I am tasked by the queen, by Boadice's older sister, by my lover... I cannot fail, for I may die by her hands. I can say I do not fear death, but I do fear death by her hands." The woman simply states as she starts to sob. Queen Janiciet sits next to not a hard maiden of war, a commander of men and women, and great fighter. No, she sits next to a broken woman, full of fear and sorrow. She looks to the sky as her short, light brown hair falls back as she lets the sorrow cry of her adversary fill the air around them. "You do not have to go back." The queen offers. "Wha-...." Verante's cry stops. "You can stay here and serve a better cause, a better leader I can assure you." Janiciet looks back down to her. "I.... I appreciate the offer, my foe... But I cannot accept, not now at least... I have a duty to do even if I have to fight you many a times over." Verante's tears stop, but she still lies there on the ground. "You were a worthy adversary, Verante." The young queen got up and offered her hand to the commander. To her surprise, she took it and helped the downed commander up. She helped her to a nearby horse whose rider has died. "Why are you letting me go? Even after all of this." The maiden commander looked at the queen. "You were a worthy adversary Verante. Go, I hope to see you in battle once more, maybe.... On the same side this time." The young queen smiled at her foe, even through the battle, she had a respect for the commander. "I... I thank you Azure Queen Janciet. I wish to battle you once more and perhaps... The offer will be taken up by me. Perhaps..." Verante finishes as she kicks the horse to galloping speed away from the queen. She sighs as her men rejoin her as the come over the hill after regrouping. "Where is the bitch of war that you beat down?" Kaverra looked around, her helm off. "She got away, mounted a horse before I could get to her... I was out of arrows also." The young queen smoothly lied. "Damn.... Hoped you would get her good.... Next time for sure, but right now, we have to meet up with the rest of the men. Siggy looks like he's about to drop dead from exhaustion and while the knights are better off than Siggy, it's still pretty bad." Kaverra told her commander. "Alright, lets head to Avendor for some well deserved rest and from the sounds of it, they need it." Janiciet nodded as she made her way to the rest of her warband, but not before looking back in the direction the Kruus, Verante, rode off to. The queen smirked as she left the field where she will always remember it as a little war, a war of two. (Looking back, I feel I could have wrote this better, but I'll let it rock for now... Enjoy.) Category:Tales from Pendor